AGRARIANISM IN MEXICO 79 



rarely ever pay his obligations to his landlord, his 

 freedom was restricted to the point of partially en- 

 slaving him. 



The church became a partner with the feudal lords 

 in acquiring vast estates. The original laws of the 

 king of Spain prohibited ecclesiastic corporations 

 from owning land, but they were not strictly en- 

 forced, and, by the middle of the nineteenth century, 

 the church had acquired ownership of one third of 

 Mexico. 



The revolution of Juarez was a land war waged 

 against the feudal lords and clerical forces. Juarez 

 was a pure Zapotec Indian. Arrayed on his side 

 were the liberals and the oppressed Indians. The 

 revolutionary forces won. The constitution of 1857 

 and the reform laws of 1859 were designed to secure 

 social justice and equality of opportunity to all 

 classes. Church property was confiscated, church 

 and state were separated, and land-holding by the 

 church was forbidden. The great estates were con- 

 fiscated, serfdom obliterated, and provision made for 

 free and non-sectarian compulsory education. But 

 Juarez never had an opportunity to put these re- 

 forms into effect. Porfirio Diaz forced himself into 

 power before the reform program could be promul- 

 gated. 



Diaz was proclaimed provisional president on No- 

 vember 21, 1876. The Mexican Congress in 1877 

 declared him president for four years. "This was 

 the beginning," says Mrs. Edith O'Shaughnessy, "of 



